


Malcolm's Ark

by matrixrefugee



Category: Firefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 16:08:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17665769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matrixrefugee/pseuds/matrixrefugee
Summary: The crew has had some interesting loads to haul...





	Malcolm's Ark

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/profile)[comment_fic](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/)'s "Firefly, crew, "Wait, our job is to transport a zoo?!""

The sheer size of the crates that turned up at the Eavesdown dock should have tipped off Zoe and Wash, never mind the smell which the wind blew toward Serenity. Jayne was trundling back and forth with the mule, the whole morning, but he couldn't be happier than if he was in a fire fight.

First came the crate with the lion, then a baby elephant, then a dwarf rhino that according to River's chatter had been genetically engineered to make them easier to keep, then a pair of gazelles: There was some rummaging about and moving of crates, when Jayne hauled in a crate with a leopard and parked it next to them. "We're s'posed t' bring the cargo to the skyplex in one piece, not thin it out on the way over," Mal shouted to him.

"We're gonna feed th' cats ennyway, why not let 'em feed theirselves," Jayne yelled back. "Be more natural-like. Big cats gotta hunt."

"Not with th' rest a' th' collection. These critters don't get shipped alive, we don't get paid, so move the gorram cat-crate somewhere else," Mal yelled back even louder.

"When you said we were moving a rich guy's animal collection, I thought we were moving a nice little crate of porcelain figurines," Wash said, watching this from the relative safety of a catwalk high above the cargo bay. "We're supposed to transport a *zoo*?"

"They would have to be large figurines for the fee they're paying us," Zoe said, with the faintest hint of a smirk. "And I doubt the captain would want something that easy."

"Cows I could see, but Noah's ark?"

"The Feds put so many restrictions on transporting animals, this is the easiest way," Zoe said.

"Easier for someone who can just sit at home," Wash said. "We just gotta haul a ship full of lions, tigers and bears through the Core planets."


End file.
